Magnetic closure seal



P. C. KORODI MAGNETIC CLOSURE SEAL Filed April 30, 1959 INVENTOR PAUL C.KORODI ATTORN ace corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Apr. 30, 1959, Ser.No. 810,008 2 Claims. (Cl. 206) This invention relates to closure sealsand more particularly to means for effecting a seal between inner,adjacent edges of a pair of side-by-side doors closing an access openingin a cabinet.

Many prior art cabinets having an access opening closed by a pair ofside-by-side door members are provided with a vertical mullion or centerpost spanning the access opening. The door members are hinged forswinging, relative movement about their outer vertical edges and theirinner, vertical edges are provided with gaskets which firmly seatagainst the mullion to provide a good seal. Since a mullion obstructsthe access opening, it is desirable to eliminate it and provide meansfor effectively sealing the space between the inner, vertical edges ofthe door members.

The effectiveness of a seal of the type set forth depends, not only onits ability to prevent heat from entering the food storage compartment,but also on the ease with which it breaks and reestablishes a tight sealwhen one door member is opened and closed, and this is the principalconcern of the present invention.

In carrying out the present invention, therefore, a magnetic closureseal for the adjacent edge surfaces is provided which breaks andreestablishes a seal more easily than prior art closure seals of thiskind. The seal includes a magnet body mounted on the inner edge of eachindividually movable door member so as to extend along the lengththereof; and the means employed for mounting one of the magnet bodiesincludes a portion which, in the closed position of the door members,renders that magnet body movable toward the other magnet body. Eachmagnet body has a longitudinally extending pole surface which isgenerally parallel to the direction of relative movement of the dooredge surfaces. Additionally, each pole surface is provided with a pairof longitudinally extending, opposite magnetic poles arrangedside-by-side and in such a manner as to be in proximity with respectiveopposite poles of the other magnet body when the members close theopening.

'The initial opening movement of one door is accompanied by relativesliding movement of the gaskets along their contact surfaces until likepoles of the respective magnet bodies are in close, mutually facingrelationship, in which position the magnet bodies repel each other,thereby moving the gaskets apart, breaking the seal between them, andpermitting the door movement to be continued without further slidingcontact between the gaskets. When the door is closed a seal isreestablished with virtually no sliding friction between the gaskets.

The various objects, features, and advantages of the invention willappear more fully from the detailed description which follows, taken inconnection with the accompanying drawing, forming a part of thisapplication, in which:

FIG. 1 is a horizontal sectional View of a cabinet incorporating apreferred embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view of a magnet bodyshowing the opposite magnetic poles on one pole surface thereof;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the gaskets of FIG. 1 as theyare arranged in closed position of the doors;

3,004,309 Patented Oct. 17, 1961 "ice,

. FIG. 4 is a view similarto FIG. 3 showing one door ajar, in whichposition the magnets repel each other; and

FIG. 5 is a horizontal sectional view of a cabinet incorporating anotherembodiment of the invention.

The insulated cabinet illustrated fragmentarily in the drawing is of thedomestic refrigerator type and has an unobstructed front access openingto a refrigerated storage chamber 9. The access opening is of generallyrectangular configuration and is closed by a pair of side-byside doorsor door members 10, each door being hingeably mounted on cabinet sidewalls 12 for swinging move ment about an outer, vertical edge thereof.The doors 10 are individually movable to an opened position by pullingon one or the other of two handles 14. In the closed position, the doors10 have inner, vertical edges which are adjacent each other and sealedagainst each other by means of gaskets 19 and 2.0 respectively mountedthereon. The doors 10 are sealed at their other edges against thecabinet by conventional gaskets; and each door may be equipped with asuitable latch mechanism, which is not shown.

The gaskets 19 and 20 are of hollow tubular construction and made fromrubber or rubber-like material, as may be suitable for extrusion ingreat lengths. In order to mount the gaskets 19 and 20 they are providedwith mounting buttons 22, generally of dovetail configuration, which arereceived in suitable openings in the inner edge of each door. Othersuitable mounting means may be used, in addition to that shown. Eachgasket has an external contact surface and wall structure 24 interiorlythereof defining an elongated chamber in which is received a continuousmagnet body or strip 26 of magnet material. As will be explained, thestrips 26 are attractable to each other and the gaskets 19 and aremovable with the strips 26 until they contact each other and establish atight seal. To this end, the gaskets 19 and 20 each have flexible,pleated wall portions 28 in order that the gaskets will be renderedextendable toward each other from their associated inner edges of thedoors 10.

As best seen in FIG. 2, the continuous strip or magnet body 26 is ofgenerally rectangular cross section and has two, elongated, oppositemagnetic poles N and S arranged side-by-side on one broad,longitudinally extending pole surface thereof. Stated another way, themagnetic poles N and S are arranged one after the other in the directionin which the door carrying them is movable. The pole surface isgenerally parallel to the direction of relativemovement of the innerdoor edges. (See FIGS. 2 and 3.) Materials such as barium-ferrite aresuitable for being magnetized in the manner described. Preferably themagnet material is originally in powdered or granulated form, andtogether with a rubber or rubber-like bonding substance, is molded toshape and then magnetized. The bonding of the magnet material inrubberlike material gives the magnet body 26 a measure of flexibilitywhich minimizes the chances of breakage in service and renders the strip26 and its gasket conformable to irregularly shaped contact surfaces.

The opposite poles N and S of each magnet body 26 are so arranged that,in the closed position of the doors 10, the poles of one magnet body 26are in proximity and mutually facing relationship with respectiveopposite poles of the other magnet body. As is well understood, oppositemagnetic poles attract and like poles repel. Accordingly, in the closedposition of the doors 10 the strips 26 attract each other and move theirrespective gaskets 19 and 20 into engagement, at the same time unfoldingthe pleated wall portions 28 of the gaskets.

As one of the doors I0 is moved to an ajar position (see FIG. 4) thegasket contact surfaces remain in sliding engagement until like magneticpoles are approximately opposite each other, in consequence of which thegasket contact surfaces part and the seal between them is broken. Thisconstruction has many advantages. Since the gasket contact surfacesofthepresent invention require less sliding contact until the seal is broken,there is a reduction in both frictional Wear and the work required toeffect separation, as compared with prior art magnetic gaskets whichmake no provision for the pole faces to repel each other in any ajarposition of the door 10. During closing of a door, sliding friction isalmost completely eliminated because the like poles of the two'magneticstrips 26 repel each other and maintain the gaskets l9 and 29 out ofcontact until the door reaches its fully closed position.

Referring now to FIG. 5, the invention is shown applied to a pair ofdoor members 30 which are movable in a direction normal to theiradjacent edge surfaces. This type of closure is commonly referred to asa sliding door or panel construction, since the door members areslidable in a common track or parallel tracks (not shown). Similar tothe previously described embodiment, however, the doors 30 have inner,vertical edges which are adjacent each other and sealed against eachother by means'of gaskets 32 and 33 respectively mounted thereon. Thegaskets 32 and 33 have magnet bodies 35 and 35, respectively, andmounting members 38 and 39, respectively. Each of the latter is providedwithmount ing buttons 41 which are received in suitable openings in theinner door edges.

The gasket 32 is preferably molded of rubber-bonded barium-ferrite withits component parts formed integrally. The magnet body 35 is immovablewith respect to its mounting member 38 and it is magnetized in the samemanner as the continuous strip 26 (see FIG. 2). That is, the magnet body35 has a longitudinally extending pole surface lying generally parallelto the direction in plane of contact between the seal surfaces isgenerally parallel to the direction in which the seal surfaces arerelatively movable.

While the invention has been shown in several forms, it will be obviousto those skilled in the art that it is not so limited, but issusceptible of various other changes and modifications without departingfrom the spirit thereof.

What is claimed is:

1. Means for effecting a seal between the inner edge surfaces of a pairof relatively movable doors adapted to close an unobstructed accessopening in a wall of a cabinet, said means including gasketsrespectively mounted on said inner edge surfaces and each including anelongated magnetic portion, at least one of said magnetic portions beingmovable relative its door into contact with the magnetic portion of theother of said gaskets as the doors are closed, the plane of contactbeing generally being positioned in close, mutually facing relationshipwhich the door edge surfaces are movable; and it has i a pair oflongitudinally extending magnetic poles, N and S, arranged side-by-side.

The magnet body 36 of the other gasket 33 is made of the same magnetmaterial as the magnet body 35; and it is similarly magnetized. However,the magnet body 36 is hingeably mounted on its mounting member 39 sothat its pole surface is movable toward and away from the pole surfaceof the magnet body 35. The poles.-

of the magnet body 3-6 are arranged so as to be in proximity withrespective opposite poles of the magnet body 35 when the door members 30are closed, and in this position the pole surfaces attract each otherand form a tight seal. When the doors 30 are moved apart the gas: ketsslide on each otheruntil like poles, S in the illu s tration, areopposite each other and the repelling force moves the magnet bodiesapart, thereby breaking the seal by magnetic forces rather than manualeffort.

From the foregoing will be apparent that a closure seal has beenprovided for the adjacent edge surfaces of relatively movable doormembers which close an.

opening not having a million. The seal not only serves as a heatbarrier, but also breaks and reestablishes a. tight seal with verylittle effort requiredof the user coma pared to prior art constructionsThe invention is especially well ,suited for. use on double doorcabinets having no mullion or center posts, but it should be understoodthat the invention is equally applicable to cabinets having a singledoor where the with respective opposite poles of the other of saidmagnetic portions in the closed position of the doors, whereby saidmagnetic portions are attracted to each other in the closed position ofthe doors and repelled from each other to reduce sliding frictiontherebetween as like poles approach each other during the opening orclosing movement of one door relative to the other.

2. The combination with wall structure having an opening therein, and apair of doors arranged side-by-side and adapted to close said opening,said doors having respective elongated edge surfaces disposed adjacenteach other when said doors close said opening, of an improved closureseal between said edge surfaces, said seal including ama'gnet body foreach of said edge surfaces extending therealong, and means for mountingsaid magnet bodies on their respective doors, the mounting means for oneof said magnet bodies including a flexible connection between said onemagnet body and the edge surface of the door with which the said onemagnet body is associated, said connection rendering said one magnetbody movable toward the other magnet body as the doors close theopening, each magnet body having a longitudinally extending pole surfacegenerally parallel to the direction of relative movement of said edgesurfaces, each pole surface being provided with a pair of oppositemagnetic poles which are arranged one after the other in the directionin which the door carrying them is movable, each magnetic poleextendingalong the length of said seal and being arranged so as to be inproximity with friction therebetween as like poles approach each otherduring the opening or closing movement of one door relative to theother. i

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS et w

